


The Pet Program

by Adams_Riddle



Series: Cats adopting Characters [2]
Category: Orange is the New Black
Genre: Cat, F/F, Fluff Fic, Kitten, Litchfield Prison, Minimum Security, Oneshot, Pet Program, Prison Girlfriends, Ridiculous pet names, everyone gets a cat, you get a cat and you get a cat and you get a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-19
Updated: 2020-09-19
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26543017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adams_Riddle/pseuds/Adams_Riddle
Summary: Set during early OITNB when Alex and Piper are together and in minimum security still, but slight alteration in that they are sharing living space in Litchfield for The Pet Program. Bottom line, Vauseman get a kitten and can’t decide what to name it.
Relationships: Piper Chapman/Alex Vause
Series: Cats adopting Characters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930147
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	The Pet Program

“All right, ladies, it’ll be one kitty per “bunk”. If you or your roomies get a shot, you lose the cat. Mistreat the cat, lose the cat. If any fights break out in here... you all lose the damn cats. Am I clear? Good, line up. Anyone with allergies, go see Healy to get transferred outta here.” CO Wanda Bell announced. The inmates tittered and hurried to line up, gossip rampant as the queue progressed.

“Since when did this place get the funds for a pet program?” Nicky chimed in from the back of the queue, “I’m not complaining, but sheesh. Things are gonna get crazy around here, I’m callin’ it now. Hey, Lorna, whatcha gonna name yours?”

The rest of the conversation was lost in the hubbub. Further down the line, Alex Vause and Piper Chapman were in the queue together. Hidden from view, Alex held onto Piper’s hand, just linking their fingers loosely.

“A cat, huh? Now we can really play house.” Alex murmured to Piper, who smiled at her - girlfriend? - at the teasing words.

“You know, I’ve read that an animal presence can actually really calm down inmates and encourage them to behave, this could be a good thing, Alex.” Piper responded with interest, she watched those in front of them picking out a cat, taking a litter tray and a small bag of litter away with it. It might end up smelling a bit in the dorms, but the responsibility of taking after a cat might actually distract the women from their usual antics.

“Of course you’ve read about it. Such a nerd, pipes.” Alex teased, her deep voice like a purr itself. She ran her hand over Piper’s arm soothingly to take the sting out of the words. 

“It’s not nerdy to read!” Piper seemed outraged on principle.

“It _is_ a little bit nerdy to read up on prison, though. Alas, if only more of these ladies were so… prepared when they got here.” That was Red, she was just ahead of them in the queue, and interrupted the potential lover’s spat before it could really begin. Piper huffed and went quiet, but when Alex squeezed her hand, she squeezed back comfortingly. They had to let go as they got closer to the front.

“Chapman, and Vause… One cat, one tray and litter, one poop scoop, one box of dry food. More cat food can be collected weekly after breakfast. Hurry up now, I ain’t got all day.” The CO said, bored.

Piper swallowed her enthusiasm, trying to seem neutral as she looked into the box of cats - they couldn’t be older than 6 months a piece. The meowing melted her heart a little and she reached into the box and picked up a tiny ginger ball of fluff. It’s round blue eyes and little floppy ears drew her in, she looked at Alex for approval. Alex had already picked up their other supplies and smiled at her, “Guess that’s the one. Let’s go Pipes.”

The CO snorted at them and ticked something off on her clipboard. Piper hurriedly got out of the way of the next person in the queue, she clutched the tiny ginger kitten to her chest and stroked the soft fur. The warmth and fragility really did have a huge effect, even just walking from the front of the room back to their shared bunk bed.

Like many of the other women, when they got to their shared space, they set up the cat’s area immediately and then sat on the bottom bunk to get to know their kitten.

Piper sat all the way back on the bed so that her back touched the wall, and drew her feet up to her chest. The kitten was a little unsure, but walked around on the bed in the space between her and where Alex was sitting on the edge of the bed at the other end.

Alex reached out and stroked the back of the kitten’s fur with gentle hands, it chirped at her and walked straight onto her lap needily. It bumped its head against her chin and she laughed.

“Hey there little guy… or girl. I’m not sure how to tell really. Any ideas, Piper?” Alex asked, still stroking the cat as it made itself comfortable on her.

Piper smiled from where she was sitting, and shifted along a little to be closer to Alex. 

“I’m not really sure, you know… You know my parents didn’t really like pets, they thought they would mess up the house. We’ll have to pick a gender neutral name…” She explained thoughtfully, and leaned forward to lean her chin on Alex’s shoulder, looking down at their new responsibility.

It didn’t really seem to matter what everyone else was doing around them in their own bunks, for now, it was enough to be near each other, focusing on this one thing.

“Hm, do you think Spot is gender neutral?” Alex theorised, she picked up the cat and it struggled a little as she looked for identifying marks - of which there were none.

“You can’t call a cat Spot! Can you? Anyway, she or he doesn’t have any spots…” Piper argued.

“Well, what do you want to call it? Fluffy?” Alex set the cat back down on her lap, where it curled up and began to purr as she stroked it’s head again.

“They are quite fluffy… and I guess Garfield is a little too male… hm… Saffron?” Piper suggested.

“You want to name our cat after a spice? Wow, nice rich white girl name right there, Pipes.” Alex laughed, though she turned her head to sneak a kiss onto Piper’s cheek when the woman huffed again.

“Here, for inspiration.” Alex picked up the cat again and put it into Piper’s arms. They both sat back, Piper leaned her head on Alex’s shoulder as she petted their little orange furball.

“Clementine? No… uh, Cinnamon? That’s another spice…”

“Pipes, you’re making me hungry.” 

“Dorito, Nacho, Curry Sauce…”

Alex giggled at the list of vaguely orange foods, “You’re not planning to eat our little fluff ball, are you?”

“I’m hungry too!” Piper protested, “I can’t think of any good names.”

“Well, we don’t have to name it right now, I guess.” Alex conceded, and she wrapped her arm around Piper’s shoulders. Piper straightened out her legs and the kitten walked unsteadily across her legs to Alex’s and back, not sure where to settle.

After sulking for a little bit, Piper suddenly sat up and looked at Alex, “Babe, I think you already said the perfect name, why don’t we just call them Furball?”

Alex burst out laughing, “Perfect, Pipes! Ah, little Furball.”

She gathered Furball up against her chest and kissed the kitten on its head. Piper seemed very pleased with herself, until…

“So, I guess we should talk about a cleaning rota for Furball’s litter tray…”

~


End file.
